On this day in Boston Celtics history, the storied franchise took just one player of note in the 1979 NBA draft, held in New York City at the Plaza Hotel, after having traded away their first-round draft pick. The sole player selected by the Celtics that year was 6-foot-4 shooting guard Wayne Kreklow, taken with the 53rd overall pick in the draft’s third round (drafts went on much longer then than they do today).
A native of Neenah, Wisconsin, Kreklow had been playing college ball at Drake before being drafted by Boston. He did not initially make the team, not unusual for a prospect drafted so late. But, instead of being waived, he would play a season with the Maine Lumberjacks of the Continental Basketball Association (the equivalent of the G League in that era), where he averaged 9.6 points per game.
Kreklow would join the team for the 1980-81 season, helping to win a championship in a reserve role that saw him average 1.2 points over 25 games with the Celtics in his sole season with the franchise.
It is also the anniversary of the 1997 NBA draft, held in Charlotte Coliseum of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Celtics drafted three players of note after missing out on the top overall pick Tim Duncan, who was taken by the San Antonio Spurs.
With the third overall pick, Boston drafted guard Chauncey Billups out of Colorado but would see him traded before the end of his rookie season due to the impatience of head coach and team president Rick Pitino.
Dealt with Dee Brown, Roy Rogers, and John Thomas to the Toronto Raptors for Kenny Anderson, Popeye Jones, and Žan Tabak, Billups would record 11.1 points, 2.4 boards, 3.9 assists, and 1.3 steals over 51 games played with the Celtics.
Boston would select small forward Ron Mercer out of Kentucky, a previous player of Pitino at his last stop, with the sixth pick. Perhaps that connection caused the wing to stick around longer, with Mercer averaging 15.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.6 steals per game over two seasons.
He would be traded with Popeye Jones and Dwayne Schintzius to the Denver Nuggets for Danny Fortson, Eric Washington, Eric Williams, and draft considerations in 1999.
With the 55th overall pick, the Celtics took 7-foot Australian center Ben Pepper from Australia’s Newcastle Falcons of the National Basketball League (NBL).
Pepper would not make the team, but went on to return to the NBL where he had a long and successful career.
The 2009 NBA draft was also held today at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Boston selected just one player, point guard Lester Hudson out of Tennessee-Martin.
Hudson split his rookie season between the Celtics and the Maine Red Claws (now, Maine Celtics), the team’s D League (as it was called then) developmental affiliate, averaging 1.4 points per game with the parent club before being waived.
It is the anniversary of the 2015 NBA draft as well, held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York in which Boston took four players of note. The first was guard Terry Rozier of Louisville, selected 16th overall.
“Scary Terry” played four seasons with the Celtics, in which he averaged 7.7 points, 3.6 boards, and 2.3 assists per game before being signed and traded to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Kemba Walker and draft considerations in 2019.
Boston also selected shooting guard R.J. Hunter out of Georgia State with the 28th overall pick.
Hunter played 37 games for the Celtics over two seasons, averaging 3.1 points and a rebound while with the team.
Boston also drafted power forward Jordan Mickey out of LSU with the 33rd overall pick.
Mickey played two seasons for the Celtics — winning G League All-Star honors in his second season — between 2015 and 2017, averaging 1.4 points and 1.1 boards while with the Celtics.
Also, the Celtics took point guard Marcus Thornton with the 45th pick of the draft out of Williams & Mary.
Thornton never played with the parent club, sending his rookie season with the Red Claws before moving on to a successful career in Europe.
It is the date in 2013 that the Celtics traded head coach Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers in a highly unusual deal that netted Boston a first-round draft pick.
The deal initially would have included veteran star Kevin Garnett for point guard Eric Bledsoe and big man DeAndre Jordan but was nixed by commissioner David Stern due to league rules not allowing trading players for coaches.
It is also the date that point guard Gerald Henderson, Sr. signed with the team as a free agent in 1979 after being drafted and waived by the San Antonio Spurs the year prior.
The Richmond native played 400 games for the Celtics over 5 seasons, growing into an important role on the way to winning two titles with the team and averaging 8.8 points, 1.6 boards, 2.8 assists, and a steal per game.
He would be dealt to the (then) Seattle Supersonics (now, Oklahoma City Thunder) for the pick that would be used to draft Len Bias in 1984.
And Frank "Apples" Kudelka (1949-1953), 1st ethnic Czech in NBA. He played w/ star rookie Cousy on 1951 Celtics. His mother Jennie Belka was born in Moravia, his father was an ethnic #Czech too. And why was his nickname Apples? Most probably because he loved apples. & soft drinks https://t.co/Auf24bEusb pic.twitter.com/XRx1U5LM7K
— Lukas Kuba (@Luke_Mellow) October 7, 2020
Finally, is the birthday of wing Franks Kudelka, who played 27 games for Boston in the 1950-51 season before his contract was sold to the (now defunct) Baltimore Bullets in 1951.
Kudelka was born in San Francisco, California in 1925, and was signed by the (also defunct) Chicago Stags. When that team went under, he was picked up by the (defunct too) Washington Capitals, who would then be picked up by Boston.
He averaged 4.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game as a Celtic.
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